Brazil has long presented itself as a nation, that in comparison to those of the northern hemisphere, has a more inclusive and relaxed relationship with its slave-owning history. However, generation upon generation, this narrative has increasingly been questioned, and now in 2020 the issue has come to the fore.
Born 1985 into modest circumstances in a suburb of São Paulo, Emicida is not the only artist actively engaged, but he is one of the most prominent and his choice of venue, the grand establishment 'Theatro Municipal de São Paulo', for a triumphal concert in 2019 had more than one dimension. In Emicida's own words: “Because there's not a single beam, not a bridge, not a street untouched by the hands of Black workers .... This is our way of telling our brothers and sisters out there that we have to occupy this kind of space.”
It is this concert which forms the core of a Netflix documentary on the life of Emicida that's to be aired two days before our single's release, and indeed it is to mark both this documentary and Emicida's Latin Grammy 2020 award for his most recent album 'AmarElo', that we are honoured to be releasing his music.
Gentle and beguiling it may be, but as is so often the case with Emicida, his lyrics are more than the sum of their parts and this is evident in Gilberto Gil's contribution where Gil recites a story by Brazilian indigenous leader and writer, Ailton Krenak. In the story the Creator returns disguised as an anteater but is captured for food, then rescued by twin children who ask “Grandpa, what do you think about us, your creatures?” and God answers ... “So-so.”
lyrics
Talvez seja bom partir do final
Afinal, é um ano todo só de sexta feira treze
Cê também podia me ligar de vez em quando
Eu ando igual lagarta, triste, sem poder sair
Aqui o mantra que nos traz o centro
Enquanto lavo um banheiro, uma louça, querendo lavar a alma
Na calma da semente que germina
Que eu preciso olhar minhas menina
A folha amarela, igual comida
Envelhece, é a vida, acontece
Com pessoa e documento
É tão triste ter que vir
Coisa ruim pra nos unir
E nem assim agora
Mano, vamo embora a tempo
Viver é partir
Voltar e repartir (é isso)
Partir, voltar e repartir (é tudo pra ontem)
Viver é partir
Voltar e repartir
Partir, voltar e repartir
Vi árvores a derramar suas flores pra ninguém
Tô zen no meu momento Coltrane anti-jazz
Crianças tem o céu no alcance das mãos
Irmão, será que há tempo de poder ser mais?
Eu sei, caramba, nem estrelas são iguais
Tem mais, vitória agora é uma fresta de sol
No fim das conta, Tetsuo é quem tinha razão
Então todas areias da ampulheta, vão
E as fotos amarelam, como os dentes
As plantas, a gente, a chama
A febre intermitente
Vazia estrada, cheia caixa de entrada
E de repente
Uma luz quadrada quente, diz que
Viver é partir
Voltar e repartir
Partir, voltar e repartir
Viver é partir
Voltar e repartir
Partir, voltar e repartir
Gilberto Gil (escrito por Ailton Krenak)
O criador deixou a humanidade aqui na Terra e foi para algum outro lugar do cosmos. Um dia ele se lembrou de nós e disse: “Ah, eu deixei minhas criaturas lá na Terra, preciso ver o que elas se tornaram”. Mas enquanto fazia esse movimento incrível de vir até aqui nos ver, ele pensou: “E se eles tiverem se tornado algo pior do que eu posso conceber? O melhor seria não ter um encontro pessoal com eles. Vou fazer o seguinte: Vou me transformar em uma outro criatura para ver as minhas criaturas” Ele se transformou num tamanduá e saiu pela campina. Em certo momento, um grupo de caçadores, munidos de bordunas e laços. Se encostaram numa paisagem, avançaram sobre ele, o prenderam. E levaram pro acampamento com a intenção óbvia de comê-lo. Duas crianças gêmeas, que observavam a cena, evitaram que ele fosse levado para a fogueira. Ele então se revelou para os meninos, que, antes que os adultos descobrissem, acobertaram a sua fuga. Do lado de uma colina, os meninos gritaram: “Avô, avô, o que você achou da gente, das suas criaturas?” E Deus respondeu: “Mais ou menos.”
Viver é partir
Voltar e repartir (morte é quando a tragédia vira um costume)
Partir, voltar e repartir (pra diferença da qual ninguém tá imune)
Viver é partir
Voltar e repartir (mas ouça de alguém que nasceu num tapume)
Partir, voltar e repartir (é só na escuridão que se percebe os vagalumes)
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
It's All For Yesterday
Maybe it’s better to start from the ending
After all, it's an "every day is Friday the 13th" kinda year
You could also call me once in a while
I’m like a caterpillar, sad, locked up.
Around here, I’m chanting my mantra to keep my balance
While cleaning the bathroom, the dishes, all I really want is a cleansed soul With the same serenity of the germinating seed
I need to watch my girls
The yellow leaves, just like food
They grow old, it’s life, it just happens
With people, with documents
It’s pretty sad realizing that
Bad stuff is what can bring us together
It's not happening this time around, though
Man, let’s make it in time
To live is to leave
To come back and leave again (that’s it)
To leave, come back and leave again (it's all for yesterday)
To live is to leave
To come back and leave again
To leave, come back and leave again
I saw trees blooming while no one was watching
I’m zen, in an anti-jazz, Coltrane kinda moment
Children can reach the sky with their hands
Brother, is there still time to be something else?
I know, damn it, not even the stars are all alike
There’s more, victory now is just a glimpse of the sun
In the end, Tetsuo was right
Then, all the sand in the hourglass is gone
Pictures turn yellow, like teeth
Plants, people, flames
Intermittent fever
Empty road, mailbox full
Suddenly,
Some square warm light tells me
To live is to leave
To come back and leave again
To leave, come back and leave again
To live is to leave
To come back and leave again
To leave, come back and leave again
Gilberto Gil (written by Ailton Krenak)
The Creator left mankind here on Earth and went somewhere else in the cosmos. One day, he thought of us and said:
“Ah, I left my creatures down there on Earth and I need to see what became of them”. But while he was making that amazing move to come down here to see us, he thought: “What if they became something awful, worse than I could ever conceive?" In that case, it would be better not to meet them in person. "Here’s what I’m gonna do: I’m gonna turn into a different creature in order to see my creatures.” He turned himself into an anteater and walked around the meadow. At some point, a group of hunters, with weapons and spears, after capturing him, had decided to take him to their camping site with the obvious intention of eating him. Watching that scene, a couple of twins decided to save him from the fire pit. The Creator then revealed Himself to the children, so, before the adults noticed anything, they helped him escape. Next to a hill, the children yelled: “Grandpa, what do you think about us, your creatures?” God answered: “So-so.”
To live is to leave
To come back and leave again (death is when tragedy becomes the norm)
To leave, come back and leave again (no one is immune to such difference)
To live is to leave
To come back and leave again (but listen to the words of someone born in a shack)
To leave, come back and leave again (we need darkness to see fireflies)
Born Leandro Roque de Oliveira (Emicida is a play on ‘MC’ and ‘homicide’), 31 years ago in a northern suburb of São Paulo,
Emicida began, by imitating every MC he heard and rapping in his own version of English. He soon shifted to Portuguese and via circulated recordings of his appearances at freestyle rapping battles and, later, mixtapes from his own makeshift studio, his fame spread....more
supported by 4 fans who also own “É Tudo Pra Ontem”
During the first UK lockdown in 2020, this album took me all the way to the Peruvian Amazon. This album's a great introduction to one of the main players of psychedelic cumbia, Amazon style. Each track's full of sunshine j j headington
